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Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, lecture at San Francisco State University was disrupted by protesters. Photo: Chatham House via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Several anti-Israel protesters on Wednesday disrupted a public lecture by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat at San Francisco State University.

Demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and gave hand salutes, while shouting phrases such as “Long live the intifada” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” according to a statement by the Jerusalem Municipality.

“The protesters raised their hands in a stiff-arm salute, called for the continuation of the intifada, [and] called for an end of ‘the occupation’ and for the death of Israel. They also called for Barkat to be expelled from the campus and defined Israel as a terrorist and apartheid state,” the statement said.

The protesters continuously interrupted Barkat’s lecture, to the point that he left the podium and sat among the crowd to talk. Police and security guards were called in to protect Barkat while he completed his lecture and answered questions.

“Anyone who thinks that calls for violence and incitement will be able to silence us or divert us from our position is mistaken,” said Barkat, who is in the midst of a national tour of American college campuses. “We will continue to build, develop, and strengthen the State of Israel and within it a united Jerusalem, and we will continue to voice our opinions and our legitimacy when we are invited to do so, even in places where they try to stop us.”